Scratch and Dent Special: Dirty Hooker Edition

[Burns]

Wait...Im building a truck...shit. Outboard engines got in the way....

Sold canoe.

Bought boat.

Rebuilt a 1947 KF5, Mercury 5hp!

Ohhhh, and I guess I got my hubs in from Sandy 😎

1” King ping spindles from a ‘81 E350. I put new bushings/pins in and shipped to Sandy. He set up the mounts and clearances for the brakes, and while he was at it he machines the new bushings for the new kingpins (reamed)

 

[Projectjunkie]

Looks blingy But who/ what / where TF is a Sandy?

 

[Burns]

Looks blingy But who/ what / where TF is a Sandy?

ORMHOF - Legends Live at the Hall of Fame - A Visit With Off-Road Pioneers John Ulfeldt and Sandy Cone

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame has been established to recognize and honor those individuals whose lifelong contributions to off-road motorsports have se

ormhof.org

Home | Cone Industries

www.coneindustries.com

Hes a guy who makes shit. He'd fit right in here on the board. Makes shit. Fixes shit. Breaks shit. You know...the stuff we all tend to do lol

 

[Burns]

Update: Hobart 120v keeps acting up (wire feed pulses), so I finally plugged in my Mexican 220v Linde that I bought is Casa Grande Arizona and trucked back across the country with a full bottle with no safety cap on it 😁. I suck ass with the Linde.

Measuring and locating of a fixed point. Remember the truck was smashed from the drivers front towards the passenger rear

Got a good schematic sheet online

My fine machinery!

Amazon bumper fit perfectly! I bought the biggest size bolts that would fit in the frame horns in order to take up a slack/tolerance.

Welds suck ass and I have gaps…BUT, I’m learning and will get better. Until then I’m going to experiment some which will include some grinding and trying different techniques. Once I get these on, I’ll start on the new crossmember.

 

[Burns]

Little update. Did some measuring for WMS to WMS (aiming for 68”) on the rear. Spent hours combing tire sizes, and tried to figure the best way to hopefully squeeze tires inside these fenders and bedsides.

I also watched a ton of videos on pizza cutters versus normal/wide tires. They compared contact patches from 40psi down to 0psi, pizza cutters actually winning due to "the caterpillar effect"….in turn I went with 255/80r17:

Wood is set at 68' WMS to WMS

Been picking away at ideas for the interior. Initially eye'd a set of PRP's, but with suspensions cost I needed to get by with something cheaper. Found a king ranch front bench seat, so pulled all the springs off my stocker (which was roached), and started mocking up the king ranch seats to fit that frame. Doing it this way still allows me to have sliders/be able to fold forward. Ironically the guy who was selling the seat had a '76 crew cab with a 460. Other than the show I went to while in Arizona...not often you meet folks with crew cabs.

Not done yet, but we’re getting there.

Side one sucked ass

Side two wayyyyy better


Off Topic Crew Cab Content: built a rack on the fummins to hold the boat. it was an idea I had and for $25 worth of wood and a trip to Home Depot with the dog (she LOVES the place) this makes it so I can still use the bed while transporting the boat. Straps all attach to bed, so framework is sandwiched between boat and truck itself. Was going to strap to the frame, but figured with the overhang of the boat...and going 45mpg on the Golden Road up north....id be flirting with the boat/frame itself bouncing out.

Also lowered the front an inch as the alcans settled and I had massive Carolina Squat going on. Still looks like I have some, but its wayyyyy more level than it was. All around 8/10....only issue is now my steering wheel isnt straight due to dropping the front so much

 

[Burns]

Finished the seats. Probably have eight hour of time into the whole thing. Bottom cushions are fully removable and bolt in (as you saw previously). Top ones I ended up welding to the rear frame work. It gave me the alignment I wanted and was simply the easiest method to get them on there. Didnt even light the seats on fire when welding them

Little plates down bottom to span the gap from the frame to the seats

Never coming off!

Next up was scraping sweet purple tint off. I absolutely didn't appreciate the heinous purple tint......fuck that shit...eww its out. Heat gun and a square razon. Off you go...It looks like at one point there was a typical 90's sticker of Calvin pissing on a Chevy Logo, but it faded away. Ill see if I can snap a pic of it at some point. Can definitely tell this truck dies in the early 90's.

Cleaned the floor in prep for the seat! Orange wire is for the fuel gauge (new tank will be located behind rear axle, going to utilize I think its a mustang tank).

Boom. Seats installed! Im trying to hold off making everything perfect with this truck and keeping her a little rough...but they are way nicer than the rest of the truck. Side Note: new floor pans are in the bed. TBD when Ill do them.

Ewwwwwwww purple

Scritch scratch....clean as a whistle. On the Fummins I bought new smokers windows and they've never fit well or sealed (which I was warned of). This go around I'm keeping the stockers as you see. They (as well as the window glass) is all in decent shape so no reason to replace it! I am currently in the process of doing all new weather-stripping and felt within the doors. Pics of that to come in the next few days.

 

[Burns]

Got both driver and passenger windows clean of clean, reinstalled new felt and window track rubber. Had bought a new crank for driver side, knowing that the original was missing….didn’t realize that I don’t have an interior latch for the drivers side. …..that just means you have to put the window down to get out 😎

Chopped the passenger side welds I did a few weeks ago and fixed the sag. Used a magnetic angle finder on the bumper along with a couple measurements to inside it’s both square AND level.

Turns out the frame horns I got came from a ‘67! If anyone can decode and decipher the vin (from the ‘67) that would be cool!

Typical CAD work

Pics for reference when I fuck shit up in my next post

 

[Burns]

Put a new tip on the Alamogordo plasma cutter.....and she rips!

Slicing away since the thing works so well

In typical fashion:

I may have practiced my welds on the inside of the frame rails,, when putting the new frame horns on. Sadly...they are almost as BAD as the stock ford welds

EVICTED:

Can I just say that making all those miter cuts took some time? I tried a portaband. Michael J Fox could have cut straighter. Plasma I wasn't confident at even after using a guide...so I decided my best method was a straight edge, a carboard template for 67*, and a tape measure. It took a lot of time but by the end I was a pro!

The plan:

The wasteland:

Definitely a lot of stuff in there to "dig" out.

 

[Burns]

Cleaned up the interior of the frame with a flap disc and some swearing!

Drivers side:

Passenger Side:

Combo of both so you can see my precision and perfection:

The pieces:

The pieces prepped for a tack.....and prepped to hide the visible learning curve I have for the miter cuts:

Ill end up using some flat plate to cap the open spaced of the 2x8, and will also add some gussets from he 2x4 square to the flat plate...then fish plate seams....I dont want this fucker to break!

Turns out I mismeasured and the 2x4 piece was too long. Had an added inch on each side. As opposed to take it off the square ends...I was looking to mimic the original crossmember with its spread/angle...so I cut the tacks on one side and used two inch painters tape to mark and cut two inches off the 2x4 piece. Smart...I know.

 

[Burns]

Pre correction:

Post Correction:

Let me state this in case I havent. Goal with making a new cross member is to both lower the engine and gain clearance for the beams. THe tranny contacted the tunnel, and this tuck is a factory column shift. THat means no removable cover for the tranny tunnel. On the Fummins I ended up modifying both the tranny tunnel of the cab itself, and the removable cover. Didnt want to play that game here, and knowing a lower center of gravity will help my situation...I decided upon what you see. Build a crossmember which will receive the engine mounts I bought AND allow me to place it where I need it. Overall the height is shallower, so I gain clearance for the beams as well.

Moved all the tools to the driveway, blew them off with air, and spent a LONG time cleaning up the garage, Its amazing how much metal dust accumulates....I used goggles, safety glasses, gloved and a buff (mask caused glasses/goggles to fog and make plasma cutting and such impossible). I still feel like I got the black lung.

This coming week Ill attach the motor mounts to the engine/tranny combo, remove the top crossmember and figure out final positioning of it all to start finalizing crossmember placement.

Thoughts and opinions? Comments?

 

[Burns]

Teaser pics:

 

[Provience]

Sweet